Caution: This email was sent from someone outside of the University of Lethbridge. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you know they are safe. Please forward suspicious emails to phishing@uleth.ca. A trio of additional notes on Joscelyn (the world's only uncompromising secretary hand font!):
First, I've noticed, on Twitter and elsewhere, that a number of people are using Joscelyn in MS Word without turning on OpenType features. How can you tell? If you see the sigma-shaped s [cid:812bfc39-a173-4e91-b3cd-d1038f9f7bc4] anywhere but at the ends of words, OpenType is not turned on, and what you are typing is not authentic secretary hand. There are easy-to-follow (and illustrated) instructions on this matter in the document accompanying the font. This is only an issue with Word: all other major apps (browsers, LibreOffice, InDesign) have basic OpenType features on by default.
Second, development continues (since, cooped up at home, I have so much time on my hands), including new glyphs and new rules, especially enabling the use of combining diacritics without breaking cursive connections, allowing such insane (but attested!) assemblies as [cid:5af4614f-ddcc-4783-8105-f28ac6e7ff3a] for "nonnumquam." Current version is 1.006. So if you are thinking of using Joscelyn with any level of seriousness (e.g. for teaching), I suggest looking in every now and then at https://github.com/psb1558/Joscelyn-font/releases to grab the latest version.
Third, I've put up a specimen page at https://psb1558.github.io/Joscelyn-font/. It's unspeakably crude right now, but it does allow you to play around by typing your own text in a box, and I will improve it as time permits.
Stay safe, everyone.
Peter
Professor and Director of Graduate Admissions Department of English University of Virginia P.O. Box 400121 Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4121 ________________________________ From: Baker, Peter S (psb6m) psb6m@virginia.edu Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2020 8:58 PM To: dm-l@uleth.ca dm-l@uleth.ca; medtextl@lists.illinois.edu medtextl@lists.illinois.edu Subject: A new secretary hand font
With the usual apologies for cross-posting:
Many of you know that in addition to my day job, I have a weird hobby of making fonts for medievalists. This one is a little bit later than the Middle Ages, but may still be of interest.
I have just released a font called "Joscelyn," which I call "an uncompromising secretary hand font" because, unlike any other secretary hand font I have seen, it makes no concessions to modernity. It is based on the main hand of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 488, John Joscelyn's Historiola Collegii Corporis Christi. The hand (not Joscelyn's own) is rather formal, and so less difficult than many secretary hands, but it is as near as I've been able to come so far to an authentic reproduction of the hand.
When I teach paleography, the most difficult bit for my students is always the last--secretary hand. The idea behind this font is that a decent way to learn this difficult hand might be to (1) install the font, (2) start a Microsoft Word file by double-clicking an included template, (3) apply the "Joscelyn" character style, (4) type whatever you like, and (5) just observe. The authenticity of the font depends on seveal OpenType features being enabled, but the template turns them on for you.
At the risk of sounding immodest, I have to say that it's fun to type in this font and see the OpenType features applied in real time--s changed into long s, initial and final forms applied, and much more. And in addition, you can pass as much time as you like playing with the font without running the smallest risk of contracting COVID-19!
The font is free (licensed under the Open Font License). You can get it here:
https://github.com/psb1558/Joscelyn-font/releases
Stay well, everyone.
Peter Baker
Professor and Director of Graduate Admissions Department of English University of Virginia P.O. Box 400121 Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4121
